Portable log trimming machine



Jan. 3, 1933. J. BROWN PORTABLE LOG TRIMMING MACHINE Original Filed April 8. 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet Jan. 3, 1933. J. L. BROWN 1,893,016

PORTABLE LOG TRIMMING MACHINE Original Filed April 8. 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 3, 1933. .1. BROWN 1,893,016

PORTABLE LOG TRIMMING MACHINE Original Filed April 8. 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 J L. BROWN Jan. 3, 1933.

Jan. 3, 1933. 1 L, BROWN 1,893,016

PORTABLE LOG TRIMMING MACHINE Original Filed April 8, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 1' S I H I Patented Jan. 3, 1933 JOHN LEXIE BROWN, OFSAN BER-NARDINO, CALIFORNIA PGRTABLE- LOG It-IRIIJJIIVIIN6: MACHINE Application"fi1edApri1r-8;1931, Serial No. 528,485.

This invention relatesto a portable wood working machine and-relates more particularly to a machineof this character for making a railroad tie by simultaneously trimming two flat and parallel jfaces of a log while the latter is: insitu in the forest.

Theobject of the invention is to provide a machine of this charaoterwhich will enable a wooden railway tie to be satisfactorily produced complete at thespot in the forest wherea tree is felled and-to-accomplish this resultathigh speed and low cost with a rugged, durable and simple: machine.

In-the accompanying drawings:

Figure-l is a front" elevation of the complete machine.

Figure 2 is a side elevation.

Figure 3-is a top plan-thereof.

Figure lisa-fragmentary, vertical, transverse section 'thr-ough the machine-taken on line 1, Fig 3.

Figure-5 is ahorizonta'l section of" the machineishowing the cuttingacti'on upon alog o'f-the 'roughing and finishing cutters-and taken on line 55,-Fig. 1.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary, verticahlongitudin-al sectionthrough-the machine taken on lines 66,-'Figs. 1- and 3.

vFigure 7 is a'vertical, transverse section through the :machine taken on line 7-7, Fi 3.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary, vertical, longitudina-l section through the I machine taken on line 8-8, Fig. 3.

Figure 9 is a fragmentary,- horizontal section through the speed control-apparatus of the machine taken online- 99,-Fig. 7.

Figure 10 ishfragmentary, horizontal section of/one' sideof the machine taken online 1o 10, Fig.2.

Figure 11 is a diminutive, horizontal-section, looking, down, of amodifie'd -form-of the invention in which onlyasinglemotor or other source ofpower is employed.

In the following description similar charactors of reference indicate like parts in the' several-figures of the drawings.

invention may be embodied in various forms and in portable log trimming machines of different constructions and the Renewed July 29, 1932.

present applications are therefore to be regarded merely as some of the possible organizations which come within the scope of my invention and satisfactorily carry out the function of the same in practice. here shown the same is constructed as follows, referring for the present to all but Fig. 11.

The numeral represents a rough log which is assumed to be lying on the ground 21 in the forest, where it has been felled, and its branches removed in the usual and well known manner with an axe or an adz. It is upon such a felled log while in situ in the forest, that the herein invention is adapted to operate.

Said invention, in its general organization, comprises a portable machine which'is power driven but manually guided along the upper face of such a fell d log and is adapted to trim or form the parallel flat faces22 and 23 upon said log so as to render the same suitable (after being sawed into suitable length) for railway ties or for other similar, roughly squared timber.

The frame of the machine comprises a platform 24 provided with a pair of vertical pivots 25 and 251 to which are pivotally connected two pairs of upper and lower wing plates 26 and 27 each upper wing plate 26 being disposed above said platform 24: and each lower wing plate 27 being disposed below said platform 2 1. Each of the upper wing plates 26 is held in properly spaced position relatively to its companion lower wing plate 27 by a plurality of spacing blocks 28 (see Figs. 2, 4 and 10) each of which has its upper and lower central portions disposed flush respectively with the upper face of the upper wing. plate 26 and the lower face of the lower wing plate 27, each spacing block being suitably mortised at 30 for this purpose and suitably secured to said upper and lower wing plates-by bolts 31. The platform 24.- is cut out at 32 to provide a suitable clearance for these spacing blocks 28.

Secured by brackets 33 and bolts 34 and 35 to each'of said upper wing plates 26 is a front upright 36 and a rear upright 37. Each front upright 36 is rigidly connected at its upper end to the upper end of its companion rear upright 37 by an upper horizontal tie bar 38 secured thereto by suitable brackets 40 and bolts 41. The lower end of each front upright 36is suitably connected to the lower end of its companion rear upright by a skid bar 42 secured thereto by suitable brac ets 43 and bolts 44. It is to be assumed that this skid bar 42 will occasionally come in contact with the ground 21 as the whole machine is being moved along the log 20. For this reason, to prevent the skid bars 42 from digging into the ground, the forward ends of said skid bars are provided with forwardly projecting and upturned sled runners 45 which are secured in place by rivets 46 and by aforesaid bolts 44.

I Journaled vertically in each of the rearmost spacing blocks 28 (i; e., in the front end of each pair of wing plates 26, 27) is a finishing cutter shaft 47, the lower end of which is suitably j ournaled at 48 in the rear part of its companion skid bar 42. It will be noted from Figs. 10 and 3 that the axes of these finishing cutter shafts 47 lie in a vertical, transverse plane intersecting the axes of the pivots 25 and 251. By this construction the various parts which are adapted to swing about these pivots 25 and 251 may do so without materially affecting the transverse distance between the finishing cutter shafts 47. This is an important feature of the invention becauseeach of these shafts 47 is provided with milling-knives or spiral finishing cutters 50, and it. is the lateral distance between said finishing cutters which determines the distance between the parallel flat faces 22 and 23 of the log 20, when the operations thereon of the herein portable log trimming machine have been completed.

Vertically journaled in each of the foremost spacing blocks 28 is a roughing cutter shaft 51 which is journaled at its lower end at 52 in the front end of its companion skid bar 42. Said roughing cutter shaft is provided with milling knives or spiral roughing cutters 53 similar to the finishing cutters which are arranged onthe finishing cutting shafts 47.

Said finishing and said roughing cutter I shafts 47 and 51 have secured thereto at their upper ends the driven spur gears 54 and 55' respectively, each set of which mutually mesh with a driving spur gear 56. Each of the latter is secured to the lower end of motor shaft 57 of its companion'electric motor 58, said motor being suitably secured to its companion tie bar 38 by suitable extensions 60, bolts 61 and capscrews 62. It is obvious that sources of power other than electric motors may be employed [as prime movers to supply the power necessary to motive the present invention. It is also obvious that all of the cutting shafts and cutting blades may be actuated by the motors 58 irrespective of the position of the various parts which move about the pivots 25 and 251 as a center, said 6) and has secured to its rear end a'suitable This means comhand wheel 68 whereby it can be manually turned to the desired adjusted position. Secured integrally or otherwise to the front end of said adjustment sleeve 66 is'a spur pinion 70 which meshes on its upper and lower sides with a pair of racks 71 and 711. T he latter are slidably arranged in the front=upright64 and are connected, integrally or'otherwise, with the distancing bars 72 and 721, the outer ends of which are adapted to bear against the inner faces of their companion front uprights 36 as best shown in Fig. 1.

By this construction said'wings A'and B are at all times urged resiliently inward but the limit of their inward movement is regu-' lated by the position of the hand-wheel 68.

The front and rear ends of the machine platform 24 are provided respectively with the perpendicular slide bars 73 and 731 which are secured to and extend vertically upwardfrom said platform 24. Slidably arranged onsaid slide bars are the verticallyadjustablyfront and rear carriages 74 and 7 41 In said front and-rear carriages 74 and 741 are-secured horizontal, transverse, roller shafts 75 and 751 uponv the central parts of which are journaled front and rear supporting rollers 76" and 761 (see Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 6) which are preferably of double'conical shape so as to enable the same to approximately conform to the periphery of the log'20 and thereby reduce considerably the unit pressure of said rollers upon said log.

Secured by bolts 79 or otherwise to said front and back roller carriages 74 and 741 are perpendicular, upstanding, gear racks 77 and 771. Meshing respectively with said front and rear gearraclrs 77 and 771 are front and rear rack pinions 78 and 781 which are secured respectively to the front and rear ends of a horizontal, medial, longitudinal,

elevation shaft 80. The latter is coaxially disupright 641 (see Fig; 6) Secured to the eX- treme rear endof saidelevation shaft'80 is an elevation wheel 81 whereby said shaft may be conveniently and manually manipulated. By this-construction the front and rear rollers 76 and 761 may be vertically adjusted relatively to the machine platform 24, and thus the entire machine vertically adjusted relatively to the log 20 upon which it rides.

The rear roller 761 is variably power driven. This is accomplished by securing to said roller (see Figs. 7, 8, 9, 2 and 3) a driven bevel gear 82 which meshes with and is driven bya driving bevel gear 83. The latter is secured to the lower end of a vertical shaft 84 which is jo-urnaled at its upper end in the L shaped head 85 and at its lower end within the bore of the hub of a vertically adjustabledriven disk 86. Said driven disk is provided with the usual leather or other resilient tread 87 which bears with its periphery against the flat, front, vertical, transverse face of a dri ing disk 88. The latter (see particularly Fig. 8) is feather-key mounted upon a horizontal longitudinal shaft 90 and is resiliently urged forwardly against the driven dish 86 by a suitable compression spring 91 so as to compensatefor wear between the disks and to ensure uniform frictional contact between the same. A bevel gear 92 is secured to the front end of the horizontal. longitudinal shaft 90 and meshes with'a bevel gear 93 which is secured to the upper end of the ver tical, stub, pivot shaft 251. The latter acts as an axis of rotation for the one wing A of the machine, being vertically journaled in he platform 24 of the machine and acting as a pivot center for the one set of upper and lower wing plates 26 and 27. Also secured to the upper end of said vertical pivot shaft 251 is as aur gear 94 which (see Fig. 3) meshes with the spur gear 54 of the one finishing cutter shaft 47. This latter shaft is'adapted to bepower driven from its companion electric DTLObOl or other source of power 58 through said gear 54 and the gear 56 as has-been previously described. Consequently this power from the one motor 58 is also transmitted through the gears 54, 94, 93 and 92 andthrough the disk drive to the rear supporting roller 761. By thus dri ing said rear roller 761, the entire machine is meohanically propelled along the upper face of the log 20. This rear roller 761 is preferably provided with knurled or other similar sharp teeth, as illustrated, to provide a satisfactory traction between it and said upper surface of the log.

t is desirable that this longitudinal propulsion ofthe whole machine along the log be so effected as to permit of varying the rate of travel. This is desirable to adapt the machine to handle logs of different thicknessand hardness and -to enable the machine to be slowed up somewhat when encountering knots, branches, butts, etc. Such a variable speed is obtained by an adjustable vertical movement of the driven disk 86. The latter is vertically splined on the vertical shaft 84 and is provided with an annular groove whic receives a trunnion collar 96 from which aroject a pair of trunnions 97. These trunnions are received within a pair of horizontal, longitudinal slots formed in a bifurcated yoke 98 which is pivoted at 100 to a bifurcated standard 101 secured by cap screws 102 to the platform 24 of the machine. The one arm 103 of the bifurcated yoke 98 extends horizontally some distance rearward so as to be conveniently grasped for manual actuation by the operator. li leans are provided for holding this arm 103 in any desired, adjusted position. This means comprises arcuately slotted segment 104 (the axis of the are being the pivot 100), said segment being a d pending extension of the head 85, as best shown in Fig. 8. A binding screw 105 is arranged on said arm 108 so that, when the latter is moved up or down to the desired adjusted position, this binding screw 105 may be tightened and said arm rigidly clamped in its adjusted position.

The driven disk 86 being splined upon the vertical shaft 84, the rear carriage 741 may be raised or lowered (together with the front carriage 74) without altering the driving speed of the driving, rear, knurled roller 761. This vertical simultaneous adjustment up or down) of said carriages 74 and 741 is accomplished by a suitable manual actuation of the hand wheel 81. as has been previously described. When the desired vertical position of said carriages has been obtained, the same are held in the desired adjusted position by means of a latch 106 (see Figs. 7 and 3) which is pivoted at 107 on a bracket 108 which is secured by cap screws 110 to the rear upright 641, the latter being mounted on the platform 24 as previously described. This latch 106 is provided with a bevelled nose at its lower end which is adapted to engagewith any one of a vertical row of ratchet teeth 111 formed on the outer face of the rear, upstanding, gear racl: 771. Said latch is resiliently urged to effect engagement with said ratchet teeth 111 by a suitable compression spring 112.

To permit of manually guiding the machine as it travels along the log 20, a hori- Zontal, transverse guiding bar 113 is detachably secured by a binding screw 114 to the platform 24, said guiding bar being received within the bore of a clamping head 115 which is secured to the platform 24 by a number of suitable straddling legs 116.

A modified form of the invention is illus trated in Fig. 11. In this construction only the one electric motor 582 is employed to furnish all of the motivating power for the machine. This single motor 582 is suitably mounted on the platform 242 and is provided witha spur gear 113 which meshes with both motor drive.

an intermediate gear 114 and also with one of the rear spur gears 12 of one of the vertical, rear finishing shafts 472. The power is then transmitted to the other finishing cutter shaft 472 and also to the front roughing cutter shafts 512 by suitable trains of gears which are clearly illustrated in F ig.'11. l he construction of this modified form of the invention is in all respects like that shown in Figs. 1-10 except as to this matter of the single I claim:

1. A portable log trinnn'ing machine comprising a frame; means for moving said frame along a log; a pair of cutting members mounted on said frame andvhaving parallel axes and adapted to trim opposite faces of said log; and means for driving said cutting members.

r 2. A portable log trimming machine comprising a frame; means for moving said frame along a log; a pair of milling cutters mounted onsaid frame and having parallel axes of rotation and adapted to trim opposite faces of said log; and means for driving said milling cutters.

3. A portable log trimming'machine comprising a frame; a motor mounted on said frame and adapted to move said frame along a log; and a pair of cutting members actuated by said motor and mounted on said frame and having parallel axes and adapted to trim opposite faces of said log.

l. A portable log trimm ng machine comprising a frame; means for moving said frame along a log; pairs of roughing and finishing cutting members mounted on said frame and adapted to trim opposite faces of said log; and means for driving said cutting members.

5; A portable log trimming machine comprising a frame; means for moving said frame along a log; a pair of finishing cutters spaced apart a fixed distance and adapted to trim opposite faces of said log; and a pair of roughing cutters spaced further apart than said finishing cutters.

6. A portable log trimming machine comprising a frame; means for moving said frame along a log; a pair of finishing cutters spaced apart a fixed distance and adapted to trim opposite faces of said log; a pair of roughing cutters also adapted to trim oppoite faces of said leg but spaced apart a variable distance; and means for driving all of said cutters as the frame is moved along said log. t

7. A portable log trimming machine com- 7 prising a frame; means for moving said frame along a log; a pair of finishing cutters spaced apart a fixed distance and adapted to trim opposite faces of said log; a pair'of roughing cutters also adapted to trim opposite faces of said log; and means for altering the distance between said roughing cutters.

8. A portable log trimming" machine com-' prising-a frame; a pair of cutters mounted on said frame and adapted to trim opposite faces of a log; resilient means for urging said cutters toward each other; and" means-for actuating said cutters. and moving said frame along said log.

9. A portable log trimming machine comprising a frame; a pair of cutters mounted on said frame and adapted to'trim opposite faces of a log; means for resiliently urging said cutters toward each other; means for adjustably limiting the inward movement of said cutters toward each other; and means for driving said cutters and moving said frame along the log.

10. A portable log trimming machine comprising a frame; cutters mounted upon said frame and adapted to trim opposite faces of a log; a roller adapted to travel along the upper face of said log; a motor adapted to drive said cutters and said roller; and means for altering the speed ratio between said cutters and said roller. 11. A portable log trimming machine comprising a frame; cutters mounted upon said 'rame and adapted to trim opposite faces of a log; a roller adapted to travel along the upper face of said log; a motor adapted to drive said cutters and said roller; means for altering the speed ratio between said cutters and said roller and means for locking said speed ratio altering means in any one of its frame and adapted to simultaneously trim opposite faces of a log; means for driving said cutters; means for moving said frame along said log; and sled runners secured to the bottom of said frame. 14. A portable log trimming machine com prising a frame; means for moving said frame along a log; cutters having parallel axes and adapted to trim opposite faces of said log; means for driving said cutters; and a guiding bar secured to said frame and adapted to facilitate the keeping of said frame in a'horizontal position.

In testimony whereof I hereby afiix my signature. 7

- JOHN LEXIE BROWN. 

